Surfing is a thrilling water sport for persons of all ages. In surfboard riding, the surfer stands on a board that skims across the front of a wave. For a surfboard ride, the surfer lies on his stomach on the board and paddles out to the area where the waves build up. When a big wave starts in toward shore, the surfer paddles his board ahead of it. As the wave begins to carry the board toward shore, the surfer stands up. He tries to guide the board across the face of the wave by shifting the weight of his body and pivoting the board about the fin or fins at the rear underside of the surfboard. Expert surfers may move to the front of the board, but most surfers stand at the middle or rear of the board to keep it from turning over. A long rolling wave will bring a surfer onto the sands of the shore. The bigger the wave, the better the ride will be.
Surfing began in Hawaii hundreds of years ago. The sport is now popular in most parts of the world. Surfing in the United States centers on the beaches of Hawaii, California, and the east coast. Many styles of surfboards are used, but most U.S. surfers use a fiberglass board that is tapered at both ends with one or more fixed or removable controlling fins at the underside of the back of the surfboard. It is about 6½ feet (2 meters) long, 20 inches (½ meter) wide, 2 ½ inches (8 centimeters) thick, and weighs about 9 pounds (4 kilograms.) These dimensions may vary widely depending upon the type of board, the size of the waves and the size and skill of the surfer.
Fin mounting systems (mounting boxes) that allow the removal of fins have been a common feature of surfboards for a number of years. This feature provides several benefits, for example, broken fins can be easily replaced, fins of different designs can be used interchangeably on the same board, and fins can be easily removed for storage or transportation to save space and reduce the risk of breakage. Some mounting systems allow the adjustment of fins forward and rearward, which is advantageous because it allows fine-tuning of the performance of the surfboard. Existing designs require some form of tool to install or remove fins, which is a drawback.
Surfboards typically have three fins and mounting boxes. The installation of mounting boxes during surfboard fabrication is somewhat difficult due to the following considerations. The precise location and alignment of the fins (and, therefore, of the mounting boxes) is critical to performance-all three fins are generally pointed at the nose of the board, and the outer fins generally angle outward. The bottom surface of the board is generally curved, complicating alignment. Keeping the mounting compound out of the fin cavity is also critical and is generally accomplished with masking tape. Existing mounting boxes employ various fixtures and masking tape for alignment.
This invention describes a new and unique surfboard fin mounting box that will allow fin installation, removal and adjustment forward and rearward without tools, and a fin-box installation system that will solve the numerous problems incurred when manufacturing surfboards.
While the present invention has been described herein with reference to particular embodiments thereof, a latitude of modification, various changes and substitutions are intended in the foregoing disclosure, and it will be appreciated that in some instance some features of the invention will be employed without a corresponding use of other features without departing from the scope of the invention as set forth.